Tuesday, February 28, 2006

So ~ Many ~ Books

Books have been piling up and I thought I should share them with you. . .

52 Projects by Jeffrey Yamaguchi -- I've been seeing this book around many of my favorite blogs and I decided that I must have it. It's subtitled "Random Acts of Everyday Creativity" and it's filled with 52 projects that you can use to kick start your creativity. Paging through the book already has me excited! I'm sure I'll be posting about the projects as I start to work my way through the book.

Super Crafty -- I think I mentioned that Pete bought this for me for Valentines Day. Let me give you an idea of the projects that I plan to try from this book -- "Super Sock Monkeys" (can you believe I never made a sock monkey before?), "Magnets Galore + Inspiration Board", stuff from the section on shrink plastic (a whole section on shrinky dinks!) and the "Superstar Luggage Tag". Of course I'm sure I'll give each of these projects my own twist. I have to say that this book is packed with great jumping off points -- such as the section on vinyl, which is packed with tips. In fact, there's info on everything from sewing to block printing. Really a great resource to have around.

Complete Craft by Katherine Sorrell -- Great out of print book that I was lucky enough to find for a song on Alibris. Really great book! The crafts covered are unusual and while they produce beautiful sophisticated results, they are presented in a no nonsense way. You get the feeling that you could do any of them! Crafts covered include: screen printing, silk painting, felt making, paper making, cyanotype, mosaic, acrylic molding, gilding and many more.

Betty Crocker's Cooky Book -- I just had to get this one. I remember making cookies from my Mom's Betty Crocker Cookbook when I was little -- oooh! found a picture of hers online:

So anyway, I'm loving the vintage pictures and old fashioned recipes in this cookbook. And there is just about every cookie recipe imaginable included in this book too!

The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion -- A birthday gift from Pete. I love baking and I love books on baking. This is a winner of the James Beard Award and it's truly a comprehensive baking reference. Tips, advice and recipes -- my god, the recipes! If it's not in this book, I don't know where you'll find it. When I go to bake something, I love to have 3 or 4 recipes that I can look at as a jumping off point and that makes this a great addition to my cookbook library.

So that's some of the books that have been coming my way. And I haven't even started to tell you about the library book sale books. I'm almost finished with Wicked, so I'll be talking more about those soon!

Comments

Nothing better than a big pile of books! Just a word of warning though, I have had some less-than-stellar results with the King Arthur book. I thought the Snickerdoodles were blah (they recommend shortening not butter) and the scones were lackluster, too. Otherwise I usually love the Baker's Catalogue, etc. Let us know how it works for you!

I just recently purchased the Super Crafty book and really like it too! I am gathering supplies to make the marble magnets as my first project. I've never made a sock monkey either, but my mom cranked out tons of those when I was growing up. I enjoy your book reviews ~thanks for sharing!

I have that same cookie book from years ago! I've had it for 25 years, I think...it is the rattiest worn thing! And I have that same Betty Crocker Cookbook! I still love some of those classic recipes. You know, I have a sock monkey that my mom made for me when I was a kid...she was such a great crafting influence. She was always on the cutting edge of crafts and all of the neighbor women would come to our house to learn!

I have that Betty Crocker cookbook! My dad gave me a bunch of his old cookbooks, and I got that one and a Better Homes and Gardens cookbook from 1964. Best recipes ever, before everything got pre-packaged and low-fat.